Is Safe Sea a must-have???

[disneyfan551]

Hi all! In my notes, I have a recommendation to buy Safe Sea before our cruise. Is it very necessary? I'm trying to buy our final things before we leave next week, but don't want to take too much junk!

Thanks for any info!

 

[hydster]

We didnt take any on our last cruise nor have we taken it on any other cruises in the past (14 of them) and havent had any problems with that. I didnt even know what that was til I started visiting this board. We played in the water for hours at CC as well as snorkeled and didnt have a problem.

Maybe someone else has a story where you might need it but for us we've never used it in the Carribean, Mexico, S. America or the Mediterranean.

Heidi

 

[tkd lisa]

I made a special trip to Ron Jons to buy it before our May 2002 cruise. Never needed it. I didn't use it on our Jan cruise either. If you're really concerned, there's a thread at the top with "all you wanted to know about sea lice" that might have info on it.

 

[dianthus]

We brought it on our 11/8 cruise, but didn't use it. Sea lice are not active this time of year. It's the spring you have to watch it. We saw many people on our April 2002 cruise with the red rashes & were glad we used it then.

There's a really good info thread on sea lice at the top of the board.

You can get it on eBay, for about $9 to $10, or at Lifestylesdirect.com ( not sure if that's the name of the site)

~ Linda

 

[ChattyKathy]

OK...Boys and Girls...I dont know what a safe sea is?? Sorry for being so ignorant.




Kathy

 

[tbuot]

I don't know either...

 

[Cruisin]

me neither.
but I've been on 6 cruises and never needed it yet, whatever it is

 

[hydster]

Go here to read about it

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?threadid=176596

Heidi

 

[Magic_Fan_Bruce]

I've lived in Florida my whole life, and have been Scuba diving for over twenty years and have never used it. Not that I haven’t been stung by different types of jellyfish, but it is rare, and most jellyfish (or sea lice) stings are not as bad or as common as an ant bite.

On our last cruise we saw the Premier-at-Sea of "Finding Nemo". The next day while snorkeling in St. Thomas, my DD8 "Met" Squishy, a small (half Dollar size) jellyfish. You don't actually feel this size jellyfish when it touches you, but later she proudly showed everyone the small rash on her arm and said "Look, I met Squishy from 'Finding Nemo', BAD Squishy!"

 

[jrabbit]

A quick summary
Sea Lice = Juvenile or "baby" jelly fish that are hatched/born in the spring time. Also know as those nasty little blighters that will get inside your swim suit and sting you and give you a rash for a couple of days.

Sea Safe = a sunscreen and Jelly Fish/sea lice repelent. You rub this ALL over you body (then put on your swimsuit). The sea lice have a tendency to get inside your swim suits and sting you - especially when you go to remove your swimsuit. So 99.9% of all female swimsuits are tight to the skin all over need it, then there is those guys who think that they look "hot" in a speedo - they can get stung everywhere so they need it. The rest of the guys mostly need to be concerned around the waistband area and around the legs where the swimsuit has elastic to hold the suit down. It is easier to just put the sea safe on all over!

The problem with sea lice is mostly a spring time event when they are born/hatched/sprouted or how ever they come into being. Adult jelly fish can be a problem year round. The biggest problem is that they are very hard to see out in the ocean.

 

[tbuot]

Is this more of a problem on the Eastern or the Western in the spring?

 

[LG123]

On my last cruise in September I saw many jellyfish at Royal Caribbean's private island. I was getting really good at jumping on DH every time I saw one. I think they are more scary than anything else. You can just swat them away with you camera or fin or swim in the other direction. As for the fish, they were the scary ones. They were very friendly and tend to get pretty close so needless to say, I spent most of our snorkeling time sitting on DH's back. He later told me it was hard to swim like that. Who would have guessed!

I once heard that most jellyfish stings are caused by people stepping on them in shallow water. Anybody know if this is correct?

 

[aprilgail2]

We were in and out of the water all day at Castaway Cay and didn't have any sea safe and had no problem.

 

[KelNottAt]

In May at Castaway Cay, we forgot to put on our safe sea. DS10 went snorkling, spent some time in long grasses, and came down with a classic case of sea lice bites.

He/we didn't notice he had been bitten until the end of the day, when he came out of the water. The bites/stings were EVERY place his bathing suit covered. There was no un-red, unswollen "regular-looking" skin to be seen between the spots of contact. Poor guy couldn't even walk back to the ship in his bathing suit. We had to buy him loose dry clothes at the gift shop just so he could get some relief...QUICK! (And he's not the wimpy type.)

No one else in the family suffered, but no one else went in the grasses, either.

We'll never know if safe sea could have spared Doug his discomfort, but next time we'll wear it just in case.

Kelley

PS Boy, did I deserve the "worse mother of the year" award after forgetting the safe sea. I felt awful.

 

[Kaitysmom]

When is considered Spring? We are going late Feb. The last time we went in April and didn't experience this. sounds like a whole lot of fun though

 

[brack]

We've been on two Disney cruises and never had a problem. The first was in March and the second in January. It may not be a problem during this time.

 

[AnnMorin]

went once in April and twice in December and never needed it at all.
As for jellyfish what I have been told (of course this could be wrong since I have only been told this by people at Cape Cod's beaches not scientists or anything) is that if a jelly fish is clear it will not sting, the darker it is the worse it will sting, that the venum is in the pigmant. so the little clear ones will not hurt but the big red ones will.
This past summer we went to the ct. shore one day and both DH and DS felt itchy and stingy when they got out of the water, I had them take a shower right away and had some benadryl roll on that I put on them and they were fine. I bet they swam into some "sea lice".

 

[ChattyKathy]

Well, I have never heard of such a thing, how gross!! Where on God's earth do I buy some of this safe sea at? Do we put it on before we go in the water or what??


Kathy

 

[eye R.N.]

So we have bottles of the stuff. We get the sunscreen/jelly fish combo. It is pretty pricey as sunscreens go but better that then the effect of swimming into a jellyfish. For the sea lice, apply liberally everywhere, then put on your suit. Remember to reapply once you are out of the water if you are using the one with sunscreen.

 

[dianthus]

It's the little baby ones that cause the problem. The little buggers get beneath your bathing suit as Kelley described what happened to her son. From what I've been told, the sea lice are most active March, April & May. It's the ocean waters warming that spawns them... We were at CC in April/2002 when there was a problem with them in the snorkeling area. It was mostly kids that were effected, as they wear those long baggy swim trunks.

You can buy it on eBay, Lifestylesdirect.com & sometimes Ron Jons has it.

You put it on all over your body first before putting on your swimsuit, then put on your sunscreen afterward. The seasafe I purchased for our cruise last week was SP15 & I think you can get 30 as well now, so you don't have to put sunscreen on again on top of the seasafe. As Kelley said, it's better to be safe, than sorry, especially if you are cruising in the spring.

~ Linda